We continued heading north, and saw more whales and penguins along the way. Sunday night we had dinner outside (brrrr) which was chilly but fun. Monday we found ourselves in a Zodiac surrounding by 12 humpbacks (three groups of four) as they lazed around eating and diving – really beautiful to see. In the afternoon, we were in a Zodiac with Annette taking water samples, collecting phytoplankton, and measuring salinity and zooplankton— and we made a brief continental landing.
Tuesday we were in the South Shetland Islands – it was a gorgeous sunny day. We saw a lot of molting elephant seals and penguins on our two landings. Wednesday we were back in the Drake Passage, but this time it was very calm. We woke up in Ushuaia, and spent the day disembarking, killing time in Ushuaia, and finally boarding our flight home in the early evening. It was good to see Flavia again and sleep in our own bed!
What a fantastic trip!
